Women, men disagree on how they divide spending

Women say they are responsible for decisions about household spending and holiday shopping. But men don't see it that way at all, according to a new CreditCards.com survey.

By margins of roughly 2 to 1 compared with men, women said they are the ones in charge of shopping for household items and doing the holiday shopping. Men disagree, saying they share those decisions equally with a woman in their household, the survey found.

Alexa Fox, an assistant professor of marketing at Ohio University, says the survey results show the effect of shifting economic trends within households. While women have made big gains in the workforce and in raising their incomes, many still have outsized responsibilities at home.

Fox says she expects those differences to even out over time, as the younger generation reaches the workforce and has different conceptions about money than previous generations.

CreditCards.com conducted the telephone poll of 673 adult Americans by asking participants which member of their household was "primarily responsible" for spending in six categories. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.